Daily Blend: Wednesday, November 21, 2012

John Fairfax

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists declares that birth control should be available over the counter. Not that such a sensible and provably effective measure has any chance of becoming reality in the foreseeable future, of course.

Nevada City proposes ordinance to make it illegal for homeless people to sleep outside without a permit.
(via @radleybalko)

New report: Only three developed countries (Mexico, Chile and Turkey) have a higher child poverty rate than the United States, and other disillusioning statistics.
(via @BuzzFeedAndrew)

Best obituary ever: “At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle. At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate. To please his mother, who did not take kindly to his being a pirate, he briefly managed a mink farm […]” ^[pictured]
(via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Daily Blend: Friday, August 10, 2012

Phil “Thunderf00t” Mason

Phil Mason/“Thunderf00t” ^[pictured] escalates his vindictive obsession with Freethought Blogs from scorned twerpishness into raging, possibly criminal assholery. Fitting that his excuses amount to, “Okay, I broke into your house and stole your bank account and credit card info, and I told a few people what your balance is, but how dare you imply that I might steal your money?!”

13-year-old boy who tried to sell hot dogs to help his disabled parents before being shut down by a city ordinance is now homeless.
(via @radleybalko)

Old gem: “You are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist”
(via @normative; RT: @radleybalko)

And finally, a handy flowchart to help determine whether your belief that gays shouldn’t be allowed to marry is well-founded:
(via Joe. My. God.)

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If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Thunderf00t • Phil Mason • Freethought Blogs • listservs • Nathan Duszynski • Lynette Johnson • Doug Johnson • food carts • Holland, MI • terrorists • National Safety Council • flowcharts • gay marriage • same-sex marriage • Christianity • Bible • Old Testament • New Testament

Daily Blend: Monday, January 30, 2012

Excellent essay by Radley Balko on the chilling effect of the war over prescription painkillers on pain patients and the medical community.
(via @radleybalko)

Also, another excellent essay by Adam Gopnik on the U.S.’s vast prison state. (And meanwhile in the Netherlands …)
(via @ggreenwald)

Ed Brayton on the battle of government regulation vs. deregulation (and why the Libertarian idea of a self-correcting “free market” is folly).

Phil Plait rips into climate-change-denying articles in the Wall Street Journal and The Daily Mail.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: prescription painkillers • chronic pain • doctors • opioids • Oxycontin • Percocet • DEA • Drug Enforcement Administration • USA • United States • prison system • Netherlands • Ed Brayton • externalities • Libertarians • free market • regulation • deregulation • The Wall Street Journal • The Daily Mail • David Rose • Phil Plait

Daily Blend: Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Bob Marshall (R-VA)

My mother just argued that modern medicine is unreliable because Medieval doctors thought diseases were spread through the eyeball. Or something. (Pity me).

• Melbourne, FL police: That 66-year-old man with dementia we beat up attacked us! Dash-cam: No, he didn’t.
  (via The Agitator)

• Marine biologist faces $500K fine and 20 years in prison for watching whales eat.
  (via The Agitator)

• Christian-Rightists: It’s totally unfair that the Southern Poverty Law Center calls us “hate groups” for lying about those immoral, diseased, perverted, child-molesting, diaper-wearing, anti-human faggots!

• Stupid and dishonest: SOPA sponsor Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and MPAA dismiss Wikipedia & co. protests as a “publicity stunt” to “further their corporate interests”.

• Virginia Senate candidate Bob Marshall’s (R) ^[pictured] 10 greatest (outrageous) hits.

• How to Write a Clichéd, Unpersuasive Argument Against Drug Legalization.
  (via @radleybalko)

• Andrew Sullivan defends President Obama’s accomplishments and long-term goals, though his numerous abuses and betrayals – the hardest-hitters in my book – barely get a passing mention.
  (via @VeritasKnight)

• Post-racial!
  (via @VeritasKnight)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Melbourne Police Department • Albert Flowers • WFTV • Derek Middendorf • Nancy Black • killer whales • grey whales • Marine Mammal Protection Act • Americans For Truth About Homosexuality • AFTAH • Liberty Counsel • Peter LaBarbera • Matt Barber • Southern Poverty Law Center • SPLC • homosexuality • gays • Patrick Wooden • Stop Online Piracy Act • SOPA • Lamar Smith • MPAA • Motion Picture Association of America • Wikipedia • Bob Marshall • Virginia Senate • Scott Morgan • marijuana • pot • medical marijuana • medicinal marijuana • Manon McKinnon • Andrew Sullivan • Barack Obama • MLK • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day • racism

Daily Blend: Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Jacob Rogers

• Tennessee conservatives use persecuted gay teen’s ^[pictured] suicide to call for protecting homophobic bullies à la Michigan.

• Charlton, MA library sends police to retrieve overdue books from 5-year-old.
  (via The Agitator)

• Indiana Rep. Randy Frye (R) wants to ban novelty lighters.
  (via The Agitator)

• Republican presidential race just got a little less crazy. (But still really fucking crazy.)

• Glenn Greenwald and Ed Brayton on “sports fan politics” and the importance, if not eligibility, of Ron Paul.

• Meanwhile, PZ Myers offers a succinct summary of what you might’ve seen on TV news channels last night.

• PayPal orders buyer to destroy expensive antique violin over squabble about label.
  (via The Agitator)

• Christian kids somehow manage to make one of the shittiest songs in history even worse.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Tennessee • Family Action Council of Tennessee • FACT • Jacob Rogers • license to bully • Michigan • Charlton, MA • Dan Dowd • Shannon Benoit • Hailey Benoit • Randy Frye • Indiana • lighters • novelty lighters • Michele Bachmann • Republicans • Iowa caucuses • Ron Paul • Glenn Greenwald • Ed Brayton • libertarianism • political reporting • violins • PayPal • Christians • My Humps • Black Eyed Peas • cover songs

Boca Raton, FL officials crack down on Halloween dance

Zombie Jackson is most displeased with stupid bureaucrats

The government: Forever protecting the people from threats du jour, such as squatters, lemonade stands, Halloween dances:

Robotic monsters, a holiday music-and-light show and the fountains dyed to look like blood. All that in Rick Newman's front yard isn't a problem for [Boca Raton, FL] code-enforcement officials.

But the kids who volunteered to dance Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in his driveway apparently crossed a line.

Newman has been attracting hundreds of visitors with a high-tech Halloween display for the past four years, but on Monday the city delivered a letter saying that the dancers and emailed flyers make the show a commercial activity, and that's forbidden in a residential neighborhood.

"Fundamentally, what he's doing is not customarily associated with residential use," Deputy City Manager George Brown said. "Performing live dance shows on the property and inviting people into the neighborhood via advertising qualify it as commercial activity."

Newman faces a fine of up to $1,000 if he goes ahead with the show, and he could face a fine of up to $5,000 for each repeat violation, Brown said.

How they’re able to classify a free activity that brings in exactly zero revenue for anyone as “commercial” is beyond me. But, hey, as long as officials are able to swing their bureaucratic dicks around and all that.

(via @HZHemmingway)

Tags: Rick Newman • Halloween • Boca Raton, FL • George Brown

Daily Blend: Thursday, August 18, 2011

Jan Cline

• Salem, WA woman ^[pictured] sets up weekend yard sales to help pay for her cancer treatments. City steps in and shuts her down. (You can donate here.)
  (via @radleybalko)

• Abortion rights groups sue Texas over new prohibitive law; two anti-choice lawmakers try to shut them down. Court tells lawmakers to fuck off.
  (via Dispatches from the Culture Wars)

• ATF agents who oversaw the epic failure that was operation “Fast and Furious” get fired disciplined promoted.

• Hi, I’m Chuck McClure. You may remember me as the official who’s trying to put a woman away for up to 10 years because she shoplifted a $1.50 can of beer.
  (via The Agitator)

• Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) establishes his small-government credentials by criticizing a law that doesn’t actually exist.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Perry then further establishes his scientific credentials (amongst far-Rightists) by claiming global warming is a scam run by greedy scientists.
  (via @todayspolitics)

• Skeptic Tim Farley has an in-depth article on the David Mabus saga and its apparent, recent conclusion with the nutter’s reported arrest.
  (via BadAstronomy)

• Warren Buffet claims super-rich pay lower taxes than anyone else. Shockingly, PolitiFact rates it as (paraphrased), “Well, fucking duh, mate.”

• Six totally fucked-up ways your brain can let its grip slip on sanity.

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Jan Cline • cancer • garage sales • yard sales • Salem, WA • Texas • Sam Sparks • Dan Patrick • Sid Miller • ATF • Fast and Furious • William McMahon • William Newell • David Voth • Victoria Hall • beer • Chuck McClure • shoplifting • Rick Perry • Illinois • scientists • Dennis Markuze • David Mabus • Tim Farley • SPVM • Twitter • Warren Buffett • rich • taxes • PolitiFact • Cracked.com • mental health • mental illnesses • Fregoli Syndrome • Mirrored-Self Misidentification • visual agnosia • somatoparaphrenia • anosognosia • prosopagnosia

Daily Blend: Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Pamela Geller

• Islamophobic blogger Pam Geller [pictured] tries to defend her being praised by Anders Breivik by justifying his youth camp slaughter of kids who were “more MIddle ^[sic] Eastern or mixed than pure Norwegian”.
  (via @ggreenwald)

• Today in regulation madness: Elderly Jackson, MN man fined and sentenced to jail for improperly shingling his roof.
  (via @aipfan)

• Maybe I’m just ignorant, but “The Spirited Atheist” at WashPost seems to make some good points against American Atheists’ lawsuit over the “Ground Zero Cross”.
  (via Project Reason)

• Intelligence cap? Scientists: Physically impossible for human brain to become any more powerful without better supply of energy and oxygen. (Daily Mail caveat.)
  (via The Daily Grail)

• British academic takes pride in backlash from calling Prince Charles out on his sympathy for homeopathy.
  (via The Agitator)

If you have any story suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send them in.

Tags: Pamela Geller • Anders Breivik • Norway • racism • Jackson, MN • Andrew Espey • Susan Jacoby • Ground Zero Cross • American Atheists • David Silverman • 9-11 • brain • Simon Laughlin • Edzard Ernst • Prince Charles • Duchy Herbals